No Hinayana in Buddhism - Urban Dharma

41) Some assert that the word Hinayana as a term for the earlier schools is a usage that belongsto the distant past only. This is not correct. It can be found in several modern reference works,and in more specialist literature it can for instance be found in H.V. Guenther, BuddhistPhilosophy In Theory and Practice, citing Tibetan works from the 18th and the 20th century.2) As an example of confusing Hinayana with Theravada, I will quote from the Bibliographyof Jane Hope (Jane Hope studied with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.), Buddha for beginners,printed in 1995 (I only have the Norwegian version available, so I hope my retranslation backinto English will not be too inaccurate): “Hinayana Buddhism. A good introduction to thetraditional Hinayana Buddhism is What the Buddha Taught, Walpola Rahula ... From apresent point of view and written by two Westerners trained in the Theravada tradition, is ...Seeking the Heart of Wisdom, by Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield.”3) Now for a persistent confusion that has its basis in Tibetan Buddhism. Some say thatHinayana and Mahayana from very early on are two terms used to describe two differentspiritual attitudes, and quote from the 7th chapter ("Loving Kindness and Compassion") of theTibetan classic The Jewel Ornament of Liberation written in the 10th century, where theauthor, Jé Gampopa refers to Hinayana as “lower capacity” (“theg pa dman pa”).The paragraph reads as follows: “Clinging to the well-being of mere peace (1) signifies thelower capacity attitude (2) wherein the longing to transcend suffering is focused on oneselfalone. This precludes the cherishing of others and hence there is little development ofaltruism. [...] When loving kindness and compassion become part of one, there is so muchcare for other conscious beings that one could not bear to liberate oneself alone. [...] MasterManjushriikiirti has said: “A Mahayana follower should not be without loving kindness andcompassion for even a single moment”, and “It is not anger and hatred but loving kindnessand compassion that vouchsafe the welfare of others.”The footnotes to this passage read as follows:(1) The Tibetan zhi.ba means "peace". It is translated as "mere peace" in this section of thebook, since it is used by Gampopa to denote the relatively compassionless peace that resultsfrom developing only concentration meditation.(2) Hinayana: “lesser capacity” often translated as “lesser vehicle”. The term implies theability to carry a burden. In this case the burden is oneself since one's commitment is to bringoneself to liberation, not everyone (as is the case in the Mahayana, the "greater capacity").The problem and confusion here is of course that this analysis does not refer directly to thePali/Sanskrit word Hinayana, but to its Tibetan translation “theg pa dman pa”. This is a keyissue, as will be shown below.The word “Hinayana” is not Tibetan. It is not Chinese, English or Bantu. It is Pali andSanskrit. Therefore, the only sensible approach for finding the meaning of the word is tostudy how the word “hinayana” is used in the Pali and Sanskrit texts. The second element, -yana, means vehicle. There is no dissent about this. How then is "hina" used in the canonicalPali texts?Every Buddhist knows the first recorded sermon of the Buddha, theDhammacakkappavattana Sutta spoken to the five ascetics who became the first fivebhikkhus. There the Buddha says: “These two extremes, monks, are not to be practised by one

5who has gone forth from the world. What are the two? That conjoined with the passions andluxury, low (hina), coarse, vulgar, ignoble and harmful.”Here the Buddha clearly denotes the path not to be practised, as hina.Knowing that the sutta style often use strings of synonyms this way, so that they strengthenand define each other, one can regard “coarse, vulgar, ignoble and harmful” as auxiliarydefinitions of “hina” in this case.In other Pali texts and commentaries “hina” often occurs in the combination “hina-majjhimapanita”,that is: “bad - medium – good.” In the context of “hina - majjhima – panita” (orsometimes only “hina – panita”) the word “hina” is always used as a term for undesirablequalities, like for instance hatred, greed and ignorance. It obviously means “low,undesirable, despicable” and not “small” or “lesser”.The commentary Mahaniddesa-atthakatha, one of the texts where this triad occurs, definesthe word thus: hinattike hinati lamaka (In the hina-triad “hina” is “lamaka”). Now the PTSDictionary defines “lamaka” in this way: “insignificant, poor, inferior, bad, sinful. The usualsynonym is “papa”. And “papa” means "bad, evil". So it seems the definitions go from bad toworse here. The commentary then gives examples, and explains that desires that cause rebirthin niraya (hell, purgatory) are hina.Now for Sanskrit texts! In Lalitavistara we find a version of the DhammacakkappavattanaSutta, where the word “hina” is used exactly as in the above citation from the Pali-version ofthat sutta.In Mahayanasutralankara by Asanga, which is a very representative Mahayana text, we findsomething of interest for our quest. Asanga says: “There are three groups of people: hinamadhyama-vishishta...(bad–medium–excellent).”This expression is parallell to the Pali: hina-majjhima-panita, and goes to show that theMahayanists who coined the term “hinayana”, regarded “hina” as a derogatory term,with the same meaning as in the Pali texts.A very interesting text is an edition of the Catushparishatsutra where the text is presented infour parallell columns: Sanskrit, Pali (Mahavagga), Tibetan and a German translation from aChinese version. Here again, we find the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. We have alreadylooked into the Sanskrit and Pali. The German version from the Chinese says: "Erstens:Gefallen zu finden an und anzunehmen die niedrigen und üblen Sitten der gewöhnlichePersonen."It is a little unclear whether it here is "niedrigen" (despicable) or "üblen" (evil, bad) thatcorresponds to "hina". But it at least is clear that the strongly negative connotation of “hina”was carried over into the Chinese translation. So far nothing had changed from the Pali andSanskrit meanings.In the Tibetan column, we find that the Tibetan word "dman-pa" takes the placecorresponding to the Sanskrit "hina", matching the above quote from Jé Gampopa. And herewe have the cause of later confusions and misunderstandings of the term “hinayana”.

6Let us see what Tibetan-English dictionaries say about "dman-pa": Sarat Chandra Das'Dictionary says: "dman-pa: low, in reference to quantity or quality, little". Jaschke'sDictionary is even more enlightening: “dman-pa: 1. low, in reference to quantity, little. 2. inreference to quality: indifferent, inferior (Skt: hina).”It thus seems that the Sanskrit word hina, which without any reasonable doubt means "of lowquality", came to be translated by the Tibetan word dman-pa, which has the double meaning"low quality" and "low quantity". And the above quote from Jé Gampopa seems to indicatethat many Tibetans henceforth read only the latter of those two meanings into it, as "lessercapacity", "lower capacity", so that the meaning was distorted from "low quality" to "lowquantity".Thus we see that the confusion arose from the fact that dman-pa has two meanings in Tibetan.Hinayana – originally meaning “vehicle of despicable quality” – thus acquired the newmeaning “vehicle of lower capacity”.But this is a result of a wrong method. It is of course wrong to project the new Tibetanmeaning back onto the Sanskrit/Pali word, and say: “this is the meaning of Hinayana, becausethis is how the Tibetan masters explain it.” What the Tibetan masters explain, is the Tibetanword dman-pa, not the Sanskrit word hina.Therefore it is clear that one cannot assert that Hinayana has the ‘mild’ meaning that theTibetan tradition has given it, via the Tibetan word dman-pa.Hinayana is not Tibetan! It is Sanskrit/Pali, and its harsh, derogatory meaning is unchangedby any attempts of mitigation.What then, is Hinayana? Is it Theravada Buddhism?No, that is both insulting and probably also historically wrong. Is it a spiritual attitude insidethe Mahayana and Vajrayana system? No, that is the Tibetan "theg pa dman pa", the lowercapacity attitude, and not the Sanskrit Hinayana, “the inferior vehicle”.Therefore, there is no Hinayana. Hinayana is nothing but a myth, although a confused &disruptive one, and wise Buddhists ought to lay that word at rest on the shelves of theMuseum of Schisms, where it rightly belongs, and find other words to denote those spiritualattitudes that they wish to define.

7o Hinayana in BuddhismBro. Chan Khoon SanAccording to Venerable J. Kashyap 1 , the term “Hinayana” was coined by earlyMahayanists out of contempt for the Conservative schools that did not subscribe to the newMahayana doctrine.In 1950, the World Fellowship of Buddhists inaugurated in Colombo, unanimously decidedthat the term “Hinayana” should be dropped when referring to Buddhism existing today inSri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, etc.In spite of this, there are still modern writers who continue to use this derogatory term todescribe Theravada Buddhism, e.g., Bibliography of Jane Hope, on page 4 of this book.I have read in the Internet an article entitled “What is Theravada?” by Maung Kyauk Seinn,which says: “the term Hinayana is now a thing of the past. If the term be used today it shouldmean any or all of the sects now sunk into oblivion. There exist at present only two schools ofBuddhism: Theravada and Mahayana. The two must be friendlier with each other and be moreunited in contributing their shares to everlasting peace of the world.”What it means is: “Hinayana” is still used today to mean the early Conservative schools,which are all extinct. In fact many writers still use this term, thinking there is historicaljustification in doing so from the Mahayana point of view. Well, think again! Hinayana is afalse derogatory term. Wikipedia 2 & other encyclopedias define a false derogatory word usedto describe another person as defamatory. So there is no legal or moral justification in usingthis libellous term anymore!In the Kesaputta Sutta to the Kalamas, the Buddha advised: “When there are reasons fordoubt, uncertainty is born. So in this case, Kalamas, don’t go by oral tradition, by lineage ofteaching, by hearsay, by a collection of scriptures, by logical reasoning, by inferentialreasoning, by reflection on reasons, by the acceptance of a view after pondering it, by theseeming competence of a speaker or because you think: “The ascetic is our teacher.”When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are unskillful; these qualities areblameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the wise; these qualities, when adopted &carried out, lead to harm & to suffering’ then you should abandon them” (I am sure the wisewill censure the use of “Hinayana” to label the Conservative schools that did not subscribe toMahayana.)1. Use of word “Hinayana” in MalaysiaIn Malaysia, the national and official language of the country is Bahasa Malaysia (BM). Theword “hina” in BM is translated as “mean, humble, degraded, lowly (of persons)”;“menghinakan” is to “insult, despise, or humiliate”. The meaning is the same as thePali/Sanskrit equivalent because this BM word is derived from Sanskrit. In Malaysia, mostfollowers of Mahayana are educated in Chinese. The majority are unfamiliar with the Palilanguage and the term “Hinayana” is alien to them. When referring to Theravada, the polite

8ones will use the term “Southern school” while the condescending ones will use the term“Small vehicle”, revealing their conceit.In contrast, many Malaysian followers of Tibetan Buddhism are English-educated & manyTibetan Rinpoches and teachers who visit Malaysia give talks in English or translated intoEnglish. There is little doubt that some of these Tibetan teachers may be responsible for theuse of this derogatory term without being aware of its meaning in Pali. As explained by Mr.Kåre A. Lie, the persistent confusion on the use of the term “hinayana” has its basis in TibetanBuddhism.Once, I was introduced as a Buddhist of the Sri Lankan tradition to someone from a TibetanBuddhist society in Klang. Immediately he remarked: “Oh, You are following Hinayana!”When I told him that “hinayana” is a rude word, he appeared surprised and answered that histeacher taught him the word.2. Two Dhammas taught by Lord Buddha, which lead to welfare andhappinessGentle speech and courtesy (sākhalyañca paṭisanthāro in Sangiti Sutta, Digha Nikaya) aretwo Dhammas taught by the Buddha that lead to welfare & happiness. They are universalqualities esteemed by wise people of all religion, race and creed, because they promotemutual respect, harmony and peace among mankind.So it is ironic that there are Buddhist teachers today, who don’t use polite words whenreferring to the Conservative schools, but still label them “Hinayana”, a derogatory term thatwill hurt the feelings of its followers. Yet these teachers go around preaching compassion,kindness and peace to everybody but act with disdain towards their co-religionists of theConservative schools for no other reason than the fact that the latter followed the Arahantshipideal taught by Lord Buddha and did not accept their new doctrine!3. Discard derogatory term ‘Hinayana’ to promote Harmony and UnityIn Akkosa Sutta of Samyutta 7. 2, Lord Buddha shows the proper way to respond to insults,not by keeping silent, but by teaching the abuser thus: “In the same way, brahmin, that withwhich you have insulted me, who is not insulting; that with which you have taunted me, whois not taunting; that with which you have berated me, who is not berating: that I don't acceptfrom you. It's all yours, brahmin. It's all yours.”“Whoever returns insult to one who is insulting, returns taunts to one who is taunting, returnsa berating to one who is berating, is said to be eating together, sharing company, with thatperson. But I am neither eating together nor sharing your company, brahmin. It's all yours."All Buddhists are advised to stop using the term “Hinayana”, a false derogatory term, whichis defamatory. Today, information is so easily and freely available that it is ironic there arestill modern writers and speakers who continue to use this term “Hinayana” when referring tothe early Conservative schools. These writers and speakers may not have any intention to bederogatory. But they did not stop to consider that the use of such language might hurt thefeelings of devotees of the Conservative schools. They simply followed what their own

9teachers or writers had said or written without verifying the meaning. It is like “a file ofblind men each in touch with the next: the first one does not see, the middle one does notsee, and the last one does not see.” (See Canki Sutta for simile of file of blind men.)I am confident that all polite and gentle people, Buddhists & non-Buddhists alike, will stopusing the word “Hinayana” to describe any Buddhist school whether existing or extinct, oncethey come to know its derogatory meaning. Even the mitigated English version “small orlesser vehicle” is condescending. It is time to replace it with a more accurate, polite term“Conservative or Early Buddhism” or the Pali word “ikaya”.When referring to Buddhism existing today in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos,etc., the proper term to use is “Theravada”, the original name of this Conservative school.Gentle speech and courtesy are two practices taught by the Buddha that will lead to welfareand happiness. They promote mutual respect, harmony and peace among mankind. So let’sdiscard this libellous term “Hinayana” in all our speech or writing. It is imperative to addressall the early Buddhist schools with greater respect.4. Who were the Conservative Schools?3According to Warder 4 (Indian Buddhism) the Eighteen Conservative Schools or ikayasarose sometime between one hundred to two hundred years after Parinibbana, i.e., sometimebetween the Second and Third Buddhist Councils. They were called “Hinayana” (Mean orInferior Vehicle), a contemptuous term amounting to verbal abuse coined by followers ofMahayana who wanted to exalt their own doctrines and belittle the earlier forms of Buddhism.Due to its derogatory nature, the term ‘Hinayana’ should be dropped when referring to theearly Conservative Schools or Nikayas.According to the Mahavamsa 5 , after the Second Council, (1) Mahasanghika seceded fromthe original Sangha and produced two schools (2) Gokulika and (3) Ekavyoharika. FromGokulika, arose (4) Pannatti and (5) Bahulika or Bahussutiya and from these the (6) Cetiyasect making with the Mahasanghika a total of six.From the (7) Theravada, two more groups seceded, namely (8) Mahimsasaka and (9)Vajjiputtaka. Vajjiputtaka produced (10) Dhammuttariya, (11) Bhaddayanika, (12)Channagarika and (13) Sammitiya while Mahimsasaka produced (14) Sabbathivada and (15)Dhammaguttika. From Sabbathivada (16) Kassapiya split off and later produced (17)Samkantika and from this (18) Suttavada.OTE: In another account by P. V. Bapat 6 , Mahasanghika produced seven schools andTheravada eleven. The doctrines of these schools are described on pages 28-33 of this book.According to Rhys Davids 7 , evidence from the Mahavastu, the main text of theLokuttaravadins (an offshoot of the Mahasanghika furthest removed from Theravada) showsvery little of its teaching that could not have been developed from Theravada. The differencewas the prominence given to legendary matters and in the consequent inattention to ethical

10points. In fact, all the early schools looked upon Arahantship as the ideal of a goodBuddhist, not Bodhisattaship!However their concept of the Arahant and other doctrinal matters differed from the Theravadagiving rise to the composition of the Kathavatthu 8 by Ven. Moggaliputta Tissa, President ofthe Third Buddhist Council. The reader should refer to the Kathavatthu for the full refutationof the heretical views held by the various schools.In most of the cases, the difference between one school and another may be ascribed togeographical factors rather than to doctrinal differences. The first serious differences beforethe Schism found the Buddhists tending to separate into a western group around the greattriangle of Kosambi–Mathura–Ujjaini and an eastern group at Vesali. In the case ofTheravada, events of the Second Council showed that the monks of the west, especially ofKosambi and Avanti dominated this group.The first group to secede, i.e., Mahasanghika remained in and around Pataliputta as theirmain centre while Theravada dominated at Avanti and spread rapidly into Maharashtra,Andhra and down to the Chola country as well as Sri Lanka.Soon after the Second Council, Mathura became the first centre of the Sabbathivadins andfrom there, their influence radiated all over Northern India, particularly in Kashmir andGandhara.The Kassapiyas in fact were a group of Theravada cut off from the mainstream Theravada bythe seceded Sabbathivadins and for a long time they maintained contact with their originalbase at Sanchi.More widespread were the Sammitiyas, who spread across Avanti and Gujarat to form theirmain centre at Sindhu while the Lokuttaravadins branched out as far away as Bactria.The majority of the Eighteen ikayas were short-lived but some grew in strength andsurvived for several centuries, notably: Theravada, Sammitiya, Sabbathivadin,Mahasanghika and Lokottaravadins.Hsuan Tsang who visited India in AD 629-645 estimated the Buddhist bhikkhus in India andthe adjacent countries to the Northwest at less than two hundred thousand, three-quarters ofthem belonged to these five ikayas and the remaining quarter belonged to Mahayana.Eventually the Mahayana expanded northwards and eastwards to Central Asia and China,eclipsing the ikayas.Of the ikayas, Theravada established itself in Sri Lanka & Burma and spread to othercountries in S.E. Asia. Today, it is the only Conservative school existing after Buddhismdisappeared from India after Muslim conquest in 12 th century AD.ote: The Chinese pilgrims Fa Hsien & I-tsing belonged to the Sammitiya or School of RightView while Hsuan Tsang belonged to Mahayana.5. Doctrines of the Conservative Schools

11A) Mahasanghika and Related Schools.Mahasanghika or School of the Great Assembly (attended by ten thousand monks &laymen) is acknowledged as the first ikaya to secede from the original Sangha after theSecond Council. They had their main centre at Pataliputta but later on migrated fromMagadha in two streams, one northwards and the other towards the south.The southern group settled down in Andhra Pradesh around Amaravati and Dhanakataka,their branches concentrating at Nagarjunakonda, dwelling on the mountains around.The Pali version has been fully borne out by the inscriptions discovered in these areas,namely, the Pubbaseliyas, Uttaraseliyas or Aparaseliyas, Siddhatthikas and Rajagirikas,collectively designated as Andhakas by Buddhaghosa in his commentary on the Kathavatthu.Of the northern Mahasanghikas, he mentioned the Ekabboharikas, Gokulikas, Pannattivadinsand Bahusuttika. However except for the Gokulikas, their views have not been referred to inKathavatthu, indicating perhaps they ceased to retain any practical importance at all.1) Gokulika (Skt. Kukkulika) — The doctrine of this school considered the world to be redhotwith misery and devoid of happiness, a kukkula, due to the misunderstanding of theFire Sermon.2) Ekavyoharika (Skt. Ekavyavaharika) — This school was hardly known in later times andwas probably re-absorbed into the Mahasanghika.3) Bahulika (Skt. Bahusrutiya) — This school emphasized religious knowledge anderudition (bahusutta = learning).4) Cetiyavada (Skt. Chaitiyavada) — This school emphasized the cetiya or shrine worship.It is identified with the Lokottaravadins because the Mahavastu, which is an avowed textof the Lokottaravadins, gives prominence to the worship of cetiyas.5) Pannattivada (Skt. Prajnaptivada) — the concept (= pannatti) school6) Purvasaila and Aparasaila (= Uttarasaila) — refer to the schools of Andhra countrywhose followers were called the “East-Cliffmen” and “Opposite Cliffmen” respectively.Part of the Andhaka schools.B) Theravada (Sthavira) and Related SchoolsTheravada means the doctrine of the Elders and was the original Sangha from which theother schools seceded. Its texts are written in Pali, recognized as the vernacular language usedby the Buddha.1) Mahisasaka — named after Mahisaka country where this school was formed. LikeTheravada, the Mahisasaka adhere to the view that an Arahant is beyond the reach of anyseduction and cannot relapse.2) Vajjiputaka (Skt. Vatsiputriya) — probably formed by Vajjian monks who did not jointhe Mahasanghika but branched out independently later. They prepared a new recension ofthe Abhidhamma based on the belief of the existence of a personality or puggala, a beliefshared by the Sammitiyas. Both schools were called Puggalavadins.3) Dhammuttarika (Skt. Dharmottariya) — Higher Dhamma school, an offshoot of theVajjiputtakas and were found in Aparanta on the coast of Maharastra at the port ofSoparaka and places nearby.

124) Bhaddayanika (Skt. Bhadrayanika) ⎯ “Auspicious” vehicle, an offshoot of Vajjiputtaka.The Bhaddayanikas formulated the doctrine of “anupubbabhisamaya” – that realization ofthe Four Noble Truths is acquired in segmentary order5) Channagarika (Skt. Sannagarika) — School of six towns, an offshoot of Vajjiputtaka. Tothem is attributed the doctrine of Dukkhaharoti, the utterance of the word “dukkha” leadsto knowledge (nana).6) Sammitiya (Skt. Sammatiya) — from “samma ditthi” means the school of Right View. Itascribes its origin to Mahakaccana but Mahavamsa puts it as an offshoot of Vajjiputtaka.The only remarkable doctrine of the Sammitiyas is that regarding the nature of thepuggala, which served as the carrier of the five kandhas or aggregates through births andrebirths of beings. Like the Sabbathivadins they also held that there is an antarabhava ⎯an intermediate state between the death of a being & its rebirth.7) Sabbathivada (Skt. Sarvastivadin) — derived from “sabba athi” or “everything exists”and refers to the doctrine of this school. They held almost the same views about thehuman life and the universe as the Theravadins, in the non-existence of soul, inimpermanence and the law of Kamma. However the Sabbathivadins believed in the realityof the five aggregates (khandhas) that compose a being as against the Theravadin’s viewof their unreality. Thus they admitted the reality of khandhas as existing in all times –past, present and future.8) Dhammagutika (Skt. Dharmagupta) — started in Gujarat and Sindhu and named after theGreek missionary Dhammarakkhita or Dharmagupta who was sent there after the ThirdCouncil. This explains why it was not mentioned in the Kathavatthu.9) Kassapiya (Skt. Kasyapiya) — named after the founder Ven. Kassapagotta, who withVen. Majjhima propagated Buddhism in the Himalayan region. It is identical with theHaimavata School.10) Samkantika (Skt. Sautrantika) — This school denied the authority of Abhidhamma andadmitted only that of the suttas. Hence they were closer to the Suttavadins who followedthe doctrine of the suttas.7. References1. Origin and Expansion of Buddhism by Ven. J. Kashyap. The Path of the Buddha edited byKenneth W. Morgan. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi.2. (a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation;(b) www.businessdictionary.com/definition/defamation3. Buddhism Course by Bro. Chan Khoon San. Published for free distribution. Malaysia 2006.ISBN 13: 978-983-41633-1-0.4. Indian Buddhism (Chapter Nine) by A. K. Warder. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 2000.5. Mahavamsa or Great Chronicle of Ceylon. Translated into English by Wilhelm Geiger.Published by the Pali Text Society, London 1980.6. 2500 Years of Buddhism. Chapter VI Principal Schools & Sects of Buddhism by P VBapat. Publications Division. Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India, 1987.7. Davids. T. W. Rhys: The Sects of the Buddhists in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society1891, pp. 409-422. The History and Literature of Buddhism. Bharatiya Publishing House,Varanasi, India 1975.8. Points of Controversy – A Translation of the Katha-Vatthu by Shwe Zan Aung and Mrs.Rhys Davids. Pali Texts Society, London 1979.